Sir, - Goretti Horgan describes the right to life claimed for the unborn by anti-abortionists as "the right to live inside the body of another against that person's will" (May 26th).
The child resulting from an unwanted pregnancy may indeed be perceived by his/her mother as a threat, be it to her livelihood, her lifestyle, her freedom, or her career. In a similar fashion, a senile relative or severely disabled child may be perceived by their close kin, initially at least, as a threat to their livelihood and future well-being. However much truth there may be in the belief that another human being's existence constitutes a threat to my well-being, this does not justify me automatically casting that human being in the role of an unjust aggressor. A newly-conceived child is no more an "aggressor" than it is responsible for the circumstances of its conception.
In describing the right to life of the unborn as "the right to live inside the body of another against that person's will," Ms Horgan is implying (a) that the unborn child is somehow responsible or punishable for coming into existence in a woman's body, when nothing could be further from the truth; and (b) following from this false appropriation of guilt to the child, that a woman has the right to expel it as one would an unwanted visitor. The truth of the matter is that the child within her, while characterised by a unique biological dependence on its mother, is guilty of no offence other than existing, and possesses a genetically distinct life of its own from the moment of conception. These are the fundamental facts which Ms Horgan loses sight of, or chooses to ignore.
Women facing difficult, unplanned pregnancies require the full support of their families and society in order to come to terms with the new human being within them. Putting forward abortion on request as a solution to unwanted pregnancies is only making a bad situation far worse. Should any civilised society solve its problems by killing off its weakest members? - Yours etc.,
David Thunder, Clontarf, Dublin 3.